Car Loan Calculator
The Car Loan Calculator works out the monthly instalment on a vehicle loan and the total cost of financing. Enter the loan amount, the interest rate and the term to see your monthly payment, the total interest and the total you will repay for the car.
How car financing works
A car loan is repaid in equal monthly instalments over a fixed term, usually shorter than a mortgage. Because cars lose value over time, keeping the loan short helps you avoid owing more than the vehicle is worth. The monthly payment depends on the amount financed, the rate and the term.
The formula
Payment = P × r × (1 + r)n / ((1 + r)n − 1), where P is the amount you borrow after any down payment, r is the monthly interest rate and n is the number of monthly payments.
A worked example
Finance 8,00,000 at 9% for 5 years. The monthly rate is 0.0075 and n = 60, giving a payment of about 16,607 a month and roughly 1,96,400 in total interest. Put down a larger deposit to reduce the amount financed and both the monthly payment and the interest fall. Stretching the same loan to 7 years lowers the monthly figure but raises total interest.
Smart car-buying maths
A bigger down payment is the simplest way to cut interest, since you borrow less. Keep the term as short as the payment allows so you build equity faster than the car depreciates. And compare the total repaid, not just the monthly figure, because a low monthly payment over a long term can quietly cost far more.
How to use
- Enter your details in the fields above. The Car Loan Calculator accepts everyday values and checks them as you type.
- Press the action button (or just start typing for live tools) to run the calculation.
- Read your result, along with any supporting figures, in the clearly labelled result box.
- Use Copy result to grab the answer, Reset to start again, or Copy link to share this tool.
Why use this tool
Finance Wave built the Car Loan Calculator to be genuinely useful: it validates your input so you never see a broken result, formats numbers for your region automatically, and stays readable in both light and dark mode. Because everything happens on your device, it is private by design and keeps working even without an internet connection once the page has loaded.